Paes, Bhupathi fall at the first hurdle

It was not that Paes, ranked 103 and getting into the main draw direct for the first time, played a poor match. On a cold and windy day, he was up against a player who was too solid and never let too many unforced errors creep into his game. And, if life was a struggle for the Indian, the back strain which plagued him during the Rosemalen Tournament surfaced again, early in the second set. A trainer was summoned on to court taking the three-minute break.

Even at that point of time, Paes, despite cutting down on unforced errors and injecting some kind of consistency into his game, did not look like taking the fight to the Australian. His first serve percentage was higher that Woodforde’s —- 65 per cent to 61 —- but the serve lacked penetration allowing Woodforde enough time to send in a good return.

His first serves landed deep, but Woodforde’s return was so good that Paes could not come up with that killer first volley.

In the beginning, Paes held on to his serve rather easily but the problems began in the eighth game of the first set when after being up 30-0 he went on to drop serve. A similar pattern ran through the entire match with Woodforde sending in good returns and Paes unable to counter it.

On break point, Paes rushed in on a poor approach which landed in mid-court for the Australian to whip in a pass.

With the first set gone, Paes put a lot of pressure on Woodforde’s second serve early in the second set and drilled in a lovely backhand down the line winner which sped through between Woodforde’s racquet and the tramlines. That was the first break point of the match for the Indian and he got his first break with a forehand winner.

But the perennial problem about getting a big first serve going plagued him in the very next game. Woodforde broke back at love and Paes was once again staring down a deep hole. As Naresh Kumar, former Davis Cup captain, who was watching the match, said, “He has to add at least five to 10 kilometres on his serve. He has improved tremendously and there are still a couple of things he has to work on. He is far more consistent than what he was and he has the potential,” he said.

Yet, Woodforde didn’t allow him much of a chance to show off his potential on Court 13, one of the four show courts. A double fault on break point in the 11th game of the second and Woodforde served out set number two in style.

Maybe, the back injury was playing on the back on his mind because Paes was not the same after he took the break. He was more cautious and the situation was not getting any better for him. The break for Woodforde came in the ninth game, after Paes saved three break points and double faulted on game point. On the fourth break point, Paes messed up a volley to go out of the tournament.

Bhupathi’s first ever serve on the Wimbledon grass was an ace as he threatened to take Rios the full distance. He was overawed but wanted to prove himself in his first match here. Both worked to his disadvantage as Rios, merely preyed on Bhupathi’s over-enthusiasm to carve out a workman like victory in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

The 23-year-old Bhupathi, coming into the tournament without losing a match since the second week of French Open, had a particularly good match because he played well within himself knowing fully well that Rios was a player who was clearly a couple of levels above him. The pony-tailed Chilean was all over the court making the Indian earn his every point.

But had Bhupathi cashed in on his chances in the first an second set, when he stormed into a 3-0 lead, he could have atleast pocketed a set. Bhupathi went for the big serves, knocked in two aces but followed it with five double faults in the bizzare ninth game of the first set.

Thereafter Bhupathi’s confidence on his second serve went for a toss. Moreover, Rios kept Bhupathi pinned on the baseline. And with his amazing capacity to pick up returns, he put so much pressure on Bhupathi that the Indian could not cope. Rios had such good touch and feel on the ball that it was a pleasure watching him.

Even in the second set, Bhupathi began well, breaking Rios in the second game and then holding serve to go up 3-0. Yet, in the fifth and the ninth games, he went through difficult times with his serve.

Meanwhile, Paes will team up with Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania in the mixed doubles.